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# JP Smith to Return For Seawolves in Second 2025 Coffee Cup
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/jp-smith-to-return-seawolves-in-second-2025-coffee-cup/
- Published: 2025-06-01T05:39:42.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T05:59:16.000Z
- Author: Callaghan Bluechel
- Tags: Seawolves, JP Smith, Charles Elton, Rodney Iona

\[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="5059"\]

![  Seattle Seawolves loosehead prop Cam Orr goes in for the try during the team’s 27-24 win over the New England Free Jacks on March 8, 2025. The two teams have a rematch on June 1 in Massachusetts. Credit: Punkus Arnett/Seattle Seawolves.  ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1d/f2/1df2f77b-83dd-4bc0-a6d2-6d1bb5df89a3/content/images/2026/10/image001--283-29-format-original-1.jpg)

Seattle Seawolves loosehead prop Cam Orr goes in for the try during the team’s 27-24 win over the New England Free Jacks on March 8, 2025\. The two teams have a rematch on June 1 in Massachusetts. Credit: Punkus Arnett/Seattle Seawolves. \[/caption\]

Last August, the New England Free Jacks beat the Seattle Seawolves to win the MLR Final. This March, Seattle beat New England to win the first 2025 Coffee Cup – and a bit of revenge. Now it is time for the second game of 2025 between these two sides, and for Seattle, it is yet another key match as the team looks to dot down their late-season surge. 

The last time these two teams faced off – in the March 8 Seattle home opener – the Seawolves came away with a thrilling victory. But since then, the Free Jacks have shot into first place on the back of a seven-game win streak between March 29 and May 10\. 

And this was all without star flyhalf Jayson Potroz, who suffered an injury during a March 15 match against the NOLA Gold. Potroz, who led MLR in points in both 2023 and 2024, is returning this week to face the Seawolves, a team he has scored 42 points against during his career. 

The Seawolves are also seeing some returns. Foremost among them is scrumhalf JP Smith, who suffered an injury during the team’s May 2 tie against RFCLA. Smith, who is in his seventh season with the Seawolves, is the team’s only centurion, with 103 caps. He has racked up 22 tries, 1,688 meters, and 705 tackles over his career. Also returning is wing Ina Futi, who has scored 25 tries and made 3,657 meters in 63 caps over five seasons with Seattle.

Leading the Free Jacks is team captain Joe Johnston, the 6-2, 225-pound openside flanker. Johnston, in his fourth MLR season, is one of the premier tacklers in MLR, with 174 tackles this season and 750 during his career. His counterpart on the blindside is Jed Melvin, a 6-0, 235-pound Kiwi who has had a breakout season this year with eight tries and 154 tackles. Filling out the back row is 6-1, 230-pound eightman Wian Conradie, a Free Jack mainstay with 58 caps, 20 tries, 839 tackles, and 3568 meters over five years with New England.

The props will be 6-0, 275-pound loosehead Malakai Hala-Ngatai and tighthead Jone Koroiduadua, a 5-10, 255-pound capped Fiji international. The hooker will be Andrew Quattrin, a 6-0, 253-pound capped Canadian with 92 appearances, 21 tries, 2599 meters, and 816 tackles over a seven-year MLR career with the Toronto Arrows and New England Free Jacks. The locks will be 6-4, 230-pound capped Canadian Piers von Dadelszen and 6-7, 260-pound Kiwi Sam Caird.

The returning Potroz is not the only big star in the Jacks’ backfield: there is also left wing Paula Balekana, one of the most prolific try-scorers in MLR, as well as inside center Le Roux Malan, who has racked up 94 tackles and 545 meters in 13 games this season. Though the Seawolves did not see Malan in their home opener in March, the Free Jack center scored a key try in last year’s MLR Championship Game against the Seawolves to seal New England’s second trophy in a row.

Balekana’s counterpart at right wing will be Simon-Peter Toleafoa, who scored two tries in March against Seattle. Malan’s counterpart at outside center will be Ben LeSage, who has only made four appearances this year but has 68 appearances, 14 tries, and 2737 meters in his six-year MLR career. The scrumhalf will be Cam Nordli-Kelemeti, who despite only having six starts on the year is an exciting piece of the Free Jack attack with three tries on the year. Filling out the backfield will be fullback Brock Webster, who has seen 793 minutes in 11 appearances and scored one try.

The impact players will be hooker Foster DeWitt (#16), props Kyle Ciquera (#17) and Kyle Steeves (#18), lock Josh Larsen (#19), flanker Jerónimo Gómez Vara (#20), scrumhalf Oscar Lennon (#21), center Wayne Van der Bank (#22), and flyhalf Harrison Boyle (#23). Of these, Van der Bank is the most notable, with 16 tries and 3174 meters over a four year Free Jack career.

The Free Jacks are a team that relies on chaotic bursts of energy to score tries and keep their opponents on the back foot, whether that be from breakaways or from quick successions of offloads and charges that roll over unprepared defenses. But the strongest part of the Free Jack game is their defense – the Jacks have given up the least amount of points out of any MLR team this season with 294.

For the Seawolves, the key will be to manage the Free Jack bursts long enough to induce penalties that end their attacking drives. The difference in penalization for the two sides is notable, since the Jacks are one of the most penalized teams in MLR and the Seawolves are one of the least. 

On the other side of the ball, the key on the attack for Seattle will be to limit the problems that have ended deep Seawolves drives all throughout the year: bad passes and knock-ons. And while the Seawolves are one of the least penalized teams this year, the penalties they do suffer seem to mostly be attacking penalties within the 22 meter line.

The Seawolf lineup for this week is marked not only by the returns of JP Smith and Ina Futi but also by the absences of fullback Duncan Matthews and usual captain back rower Riekert Hattingh. Instead, the back row will consist of Charles Elton on the blindside, Devin Short on the openside, and OJ Noa as the eightman. The locks will be Malembe Mpofu and Rhyno Herbst, while the starting front row will consist of loosehead Cam Orr, hooker Dewald Kotze, and tighthead Juan Pablo Zeiss. 

In total, this forward pack weighs 1976 pounds (896 kilos), almost identical to the Free Jacks’ 1963 pounds (890 kilos). The most prolific tackler among them is Charles Elton, who has racked up 164 tackles, tenth all-MLR. More impressively, Elton has done it despite having missed five games to start the year, and his 18.5 tackles per 80 minutes is better than even MLR tackle leader Frank Lochore’s 17.4.

With Matthews not playing today, the fullback will be usual outside center Divan Rossouw, while Mika Kruse fills the inside center spot. Futi’s counterpart at left wing will be Toni Pulu, whose tackling skill the Seawolves need to keep New England’s backs from breaking away. At inside center will be Dan Kriel, while the flyhalf will be Rodney Iona.

The bench players will be hooker Jesse Mackail (#16), props Dewald Donald (#17) and Mason Pedersen (#18), lock CC Mahoni (#19), flanker Huw Taylor (#20), scrumhalf Nick Boyer (#21), versatile back Eddie Fouché (#22), and outside back Malacchi Esdale (#23).

With Utah and RFCLA notching victories earlier this week and getting to 53 and 50 points, respectively (and with Houston, sitting at 48 points, yet to play), the chance at a home playoff match for Seattle is quickly disappearing – the team would need two wins, one of them being a bonus point win, and would also need RFCLA and Houston to lose out. But with the Legion’s struggles continuing with a 36-32 loss to the Miami Sharks on Friday, Seattle has a good chance of making it in the fourth playoff spot by season’s end.

The Seawolves need at least two table points this week to fully control their own destiny heading into the matinee match next week – so even if the Free Jacks (at a definite advantage in this match) do come away with the victory, four tries and keeping the game within seven points would keep Seattle in the driver’s seat.

Not only would a win keep more options open, but it would also be another stroke of revenge for the Seawolves’ MLR Championship loss last year. Seattle has already won the first Coffee Cup of the 2025 season and a sweep would tie up the all-time record between the two I-90 sides.

This week’s game starts at 11 AM Pacific on June 1, 2025\. It can be watched on Fox 13+ in the Seattle area, ESPN+ in the United States, and on The Rugby Network outside of the US and South Africa.